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Trial Set To Begin For Man Charged With Killing Kelli O’Laughlin

(CBS) — Nearly three years ago a teenager was brutally murdered in her Indian Lake home.

John Wilson, Jr. is accused of stabbing to death 14-year-old Kelli O’Laughlin. Her family told CBS 2 they are relieved the trial is about to start.

CBS 2’S Suzanne Le Mignot reports Kelli O’Laughlin’s parents, Brenda and John and her sister Bridgette Douglas, arrived at the Bridgeview courthouse for jury selection. Douglas says she is honoring her sister’s memory, as the murder trial of John Wilson Jr. is set to begin.

“This is a bittersweet day for me and my family,” she said. “We’re finally bringing the closure, to, trying to get some closure to my sister, who was lost almost three years ago today.”

Wilson is charged with murder in the 2011 stabbing death of 14 year-old O’Laughlin in her Indian Head Park home. Police say the teen walked in on Wilson while he was burglarizing her house. He was not only found with stolen coins from the teen’s home, investigators tracked Wilson down through O’Laughlin’s cellphone. Prosecutors say Wilson used the phone to send taunting messages to the teen’s mother.

“We’ve got some great attorneys on our side and they’re doing a wonderful job in the courtroom so we appreciate all the work that they’ve done and I have complete faith that they’re gonna do what they need to do, in order to get that conclusion that we’re hoping for at the end of this,” Douglas said.

The jury for the trial has been set. The judge expects the trial to last at least the next two weeks.